HEAD START

TAG HEUER KICKED OFF THE FESTIVITIES PRECEDING THIS YEAR’S SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX WITH A COOK-OFF, MUSIC AND SOLID TIMEKEEPING

every september, the eyes of the world turn to singapore. see, this is when the singapore grand prix takes place, and the island’s famed marina bay street circuit and the spectacular night races has fans flocking from all over the world. Then there’s the entertainment and after parties to look forward to as well. indeed, it’s as if the whole marina bay has taken on a festive mood for the duration of the event.

one swiss watch brand, however, has always had a head start in the festivities. we’re talking, of course, of tag Heuer—official timekeeper, official watch and team performance partner of the aston martin red bull racing team. “as per usual practice, we like to kick off the singapore grand prix season with an exciting event,” said amelia sillard, vice-president of tag Heuer, south-east asia. “what we did this year was a friendly and funny cooking challenge, on orchard road, followed by the performance of peggy gou, a korean berlin-based dJ who is also a friend of the brand.”

The Why

now, before we come to the cooking and dJing part, perhaps we should take a look at why tag Heuer is present for the singapore grand prix. “our association with motoracing started a long time ago,” sillard began. “in 1933, Heuer designed the first dash counter for racing cars and aircraft: the autavia chronograph. The name was a contraction of automobile and aviation. in the ’50s and ’60s, the Heuer autavia were used in most race cars.”

The autavia was then followed by the carrera in 1963. designed by Jack Heuer, the great grandson of the brand’s founder and himself a racer, the carrera soon became the timepiece of choice for many prominent racecar drivers. and this is a legacy that remains strong today.

“our sport watches are one of our top sellers,” sillard went on, “and the consistent partnerships with motorsports have given us a lot of positive association as well.” for this year’s singapore grand prix, tag Heuer highlighted a number of special edition timepieces, including the tag Heuer formula one chronograph special edition red bull racing that came with a blue dial and also the carrera Heuer 01 red bull

racing, the new tag Heuer formula one aston martin red bull racing and finally the new carrera Heuer 01 aston martin.

The Who and What

tag Heuer’s pre-race festivities were held at ion orchard’s outdoor atrium. about 150 guests filled the area, with plenty of passers-by and fans congregating around the perimeter of the venue. even before the event started, there were plenty of hints that cooking would be a major part of the show. for a moment, however, that part was forgotten when the special guests arrived: aston martin red bull racing driver daniel ricciardo and singapore’s first olympic gold medalist Joseph schooling.

They were also joined by peggy gou, a recent addition to tag Heuer’s friend of the brand family. earlier that day, when asked how her partnership with the brand started, she said: “The thing is, the motto ‘don’t crack under pressure’ is totally peggy gou, i think.” as a world-class dJ, gou certainly knew a thing or two about pressure and how not to crack under it.

That night, however, the pressure was put squarely on the shoulders of ricciardo and schooling. These two top athletes were given a unique challenge—one which was quite outside their comfort zones but definitely appropriate considering where it took place. basically, the two were pitched against each other in an eastmeets-west cooking challenge: ricciardo had to tackle an asian-style black pepper crab spaghetti while schooling had to prepare a western prawn aglio e olio. interestingly, ricciardo has gone through this challenge before, but lost against fellow brand ambassador chris Hemsworth.

after several hectic minutes of improvised cookery, the challenge ended in a tie. no, it wasn’t time for ricciardo to improve his record in this arena yet.

However, the evening was far from over as it was time for peggy gou to step up to her dJ console, where she was joined once again by both ricciardo and schooling. The night then ended on a high note with groovy tunes, plenty of dancing and anticipation for the races to come in the days to follow.

“Our sport watches are one of our top sellers and the consistent partnerships with motorsports have given us a lot of positive association”